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The Shifting Face of Power Production

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Monthly Energy Review (MER) has revealed that renewable energy sources now produce more of America’s energy than nuclear power. Published by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), and referenced by domesticfuel.com, this conglomeration of charts and graphs for June of 2011 contains both recent and historical energy statistics.

Renewable sources (including biomass/biofuels, geothermal, solar, hydro, and wind) produced 5.65% more power than nuclear plants in the first three months of this year. Renewable sources are also catching up with domestic oil in power production: they now produce 77.15% of what domestic crude oil produces.

Renewable energy production for the first quarter is also more than 25% higher than it was in 2009. Solar power alone has increased by 104.8% in comparison to the first quarter of last year; nuclear power generation has not seen such increases. Still, the 2.245 quadrillion Btus (British thermal units) of energy produced by renewable energy sources only equals 11.73% of the energy produced in the United States in the first three months of 2011.

MER is published as a part of the EIA’s responsibility to carry out a central program for collecting, evaluating, and distributing energy data and information. They also produce a handful of other related monthly publications as well as their Annual Energy Review. MER consists of several sections, including an “Energy Overview,” sections devoted to particular energy sources, such as coal and international petroleum, and one on energy prices specifically. Tables detail everything from “Primary Energy Consumption by Source” to “Refinery and Blender Net Inputs and Net Production” (under the “Petroleum” section).

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